Love to progress
by Minali
Summary: "When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted by the sun, shining brightly over Arcadia Bay. No storm in sight. Just morning birds flying in the sky. Also the wind didn t feel like it was threatening me anymore. Instead it blew gently some of my hair strings out of my face." [Takes place right after the events of Episode 5] [Also Grahamfield FF]
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So after the final episode of Life Is Strange I felt the urge to write down my wishful thinking of what happened right after the sacrifice Chloe ending. This story is for now a two-shot but this could eventually change though, if you want to read more.**

 **So with no further blabbing, here is the first chapter. Enjoy ^^**

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Chapter 1 – Back in time

When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted by the sun, shining brightly over Arcadia Bay. No storm in sight. Just morning birds flying in the sky. Also the wind didn´t feel like it was threatening me anymore. Instead it blew gently some of my hair strings out of my face. It felt almost unbelievable that just moments ago I was standing at the exact same spot with my best friend Chloe, both fearing for our lives.

Chloe...

Tears were building up in my eyes, ready to roll down my cheeks any moment. I now looked at my small, old home town looking as peaceful as never before. It almost seemed like the buildings were glowing, thanks to the morning sun which glistened all over the place.

We did it.

Arcadia Bay was safe.

Now I could hang out at the Two Whales Diner again, tasting all the delicious food Joyce was able to make.

I could hang out with Kate again, catching up with every single tea session we have missed...

I could see Warren again and maybe even finally go the Drive Inn with him...

I also could visit Blackwell Academy again..

I could see everybody again.

But therefore I couldn´t play being a detective together with Chloe...

I couldn´t hang out with her at her secret hangout, being the junkyard...

I also couldn´t hang out with my best friend at her room like we were kids again...

I couldn´t see Chloe ever again.

Finally the first tears started to roll down my cheeks. I knew I had to make this choice. This right decision. Even though I loved Chloe so much, I couldn´t possibly sacrifice everyone else only for her sake. But still.. It still did hurt so much..

I wiped some of the tears away, even though it didn´t make any difference since that wouldn´t stop new tears from coming.

Now looking up to the sky, I whispered:" Why? Why did I get this power then, when I wasn´t supposed to use it in the first place?!"

Slowly my body moved towards the ground until I was kneeling on the cold floor, sobbing to my hearts content. This was when I realized what I was wearing in the first place. It was a black, cute dress. Decent but really cute and around my neck I wore a golden necklace with a doe on it.

"Now why would I wear something like that?", I asked myself when it finally dawned on me.

"The funeral.."

After I calmed myself a little bit, I made my way to the cemetery of Arcadia Bay, which was located under the cliff I had been just minutes ago. As soon as I made it there, I found out that my assumption was right. There they were, Joyce, David, Warren, Kate and some other Blackwell students, standing around a tomb. I slowly approached them, only to stop right beside Warren´s side. The whole scene was just heartbreaking and felt so unreal to me. Never would I have expected me to attend my best friend´s funeral when I had come back to Arcadia Bay. I was supposed to start a whole new life here, with my best friend laughing by my side. Instead here I was, watching Joyce crying painfully in David´s arms. Just poor Joyce.. She didn´t deserve any of this. I mean first William and now Chloe? What world does this?

After the priest had finished his speech and the tomb had been put under the ground, I couldn´t help myself anymore so I cried. I just couldn´t believe that my best blue haired friend was supposed to be in that tomb! It was so surreal. Sure I have seen many movies with funeral scenes and I know how these things went down. But if it is you who lost someone dear to you and that person was just put under the ground like that.. It was a horrible feeling to say the least.

"Hey.. Are you okay?", Warren slowly approached me and put his right hand on my shoulder.

I looked up at him and said nothing. Even if I wanted to answer him though, nothing but sobs would have come out of my mouth anyway.

"I.. I´m sorry.. That was a dumb question. Clearly you are not okay, how can you be? I just wanted to let you know that I am right here for you, Max. Something.. something like that never happened to me, so I won´t say that I understand how you feel. But.. I am here for you.", my brown haired friend told me.

At that moment, I really wanted to give him a smile in return for his kindness, but I just couldn´t. So instead I just covered my eyes with my hands again, continuing to cry my very heart out of my soul.

At this rate I expected my friend to leave. But he didn´t. Unexpectedly he pulled me into his arms and strongly held me there, bending his head down on mine, making this into a heartfelt embrace. At first I was a little bit shocked of his sudden action. This was the first time that we were that close to each other. Sure, back then he had tried to hug me at the parking lot and I did kiss him at the Two Whales Diner before I went back in time again. But all these moments didn´t happen in this time line. So still being confused, I gratefully accepted his kindness anyway and hugged him back. While I was in Warren Graham´s arms, I could hear his heartbeat being faster as it should be. And his cologne which he was wearing sure did a good job in calming myself a little bit. After which felt like an eternity he finally let go of me and gave me a little smile. This time I was able to return it to him. As soon as our embracement had ended, Joyce went over to join us.

While Warren scratched the back of his head as a usual manner of him of being embarrassed, I slowly approached Joyce as well.

"Hey Joyce... Once again, I´m so sorry it took so long for me to finally show my face to you guys again.. Not to mention me not keeping in touch with you.."

"Enough of that, Max. You already did apologize for that.", Joyce said with a calm voice.

"I know. I just wished that things would have gone different, I mean I never had the chance to see Chloe again.."

"Nobody could´ve known that this would happen. So Max, this is not your fault. I think.. Chloe is really happy that you are here right now..", Chloe´s mother tried not to cry again.

"Oh Joyce, I´m so sorry..", I said again, giving her a small hug.

"Enough of that already. I came here to ask if you will come to the Two Whales Diner after this. We planned to have a little meet and greet there. You know, there will be some food there and everyone will be able to talk there about.. Chloe.."

"Joyce, of course I will come."

Now Joyce looked over to Warren:" I suppose you will come there with Warren then?"

Surprised by her assumption I said:" Ughh.."

"Yes, that´s right.", Warren all of a sudden answered for me.

"Okay then. See you there.", Joyce finally said with a sad smile and went to other people to invite them as well, I assume.

"Hey guys. I would like to go to the Two Whales Diner as well. So is it okay if I come with you two? Only if that´s okay for you, Warren.", Kate suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Of course you can join us, Kate. There is plenty of room in my car."

And with that, our little group of three went to the parking lot. I assumed that this was the way how I must have gotten here in the first place. I mean, why else would have Joyce asked me if Warren would come along as well? After fifteen minutes or so we finally arrived at the Diner. It was pretty crowded there, so we didn´t really stay there too long. But I was glad to be able to go there in the first place, since it felt really good to talk with all these people about Chloe. Of course it didn´t change anything. I still felt pretty empty and sad inside, not to say a little bit guilty as well. But it just eases your heart, when you talk to people who feel similar. Especially the conversations with Joyce, David and Justin made me feel a little bit better.

After Kate left early because she had things to do for her church, it was only me and Warren, back on Campus again.

"This week was so insane. I feel drenched.", I said.

"I feel you. First the death of your friend, then Nathan being arrested and then the thing with Jefferson.. So what do you plan to do this evening to calm down?", Warren asked, while he strolled next to me.

"I don´t know. Probably just chill in my room."

"How about you come to my dorm room tonight, instead? We could watch a bunch of movies on my laptop. I mean, at least it would distract us a little bit."

First, I really didn´t want to accept his offer. In fact I really just wanted to lie down on my bed and cry like a little bitch until the sun would rise again. But then again, I really didn´t want to be alone either.

"You know what. You are probably right.. If I would spend the time alone in my room, I would probably cry my eyes out."

"You still can while being with me. At least I can be there for you then.", Warren gave me a smile.

I lightly chuckled:" Thanks Warren. So when should I come over?"

"Hmm, maybe around 9 pm? And make sure you wear something comfortable. I mean, we want to chill out right?"

"Right."

We finally reached the dorms and we were in the middle of the staircase, which meant for me to climb the stairs to reach the girls´ dormitories.

"Alright. See you at 9 then.", I said.

"Wait!", Warren said, while suddenly grabbing my right arm. "I know, I´m not good at these things and as I said before, I probably can´t imagine what you are feeling right now, but I do try. I want to be there for you and I want you to know that you can always count on me, Max."

I smiled at him:" I know, Warren. Thank you for always being there for me."

Suddenly Warren bend his head down to me and lightly planted his lips on mine. My eyes widened in shock. Not because I didn´t like the fact that he kissed me. It was quite the opposite really, since I had feelings for this boy for some time now. But I would have never expected him to make the first move on me. I mean, he always was so shy and kind and therefore so careful with his actions towards me in order to not upset me. So yeah, this was kind of surprising to me.

After the brown haired boy removed his lips again, he took both of my hands in his and said with flushed cheeks, his gaze looking down to the floor:" Always for you, Max. I know, I may sound pathetic but I want to be the boyfriend you deserve to have."

Wait, what? Boyfriend?!

With that, he gave my hands a final squeeze and turned to head to his dorm room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! So I´m here to happily announce that this Two-Shot is turning into a whole story! First I didn´t really know what to write about instead of only how the LIS characters cope with Chloe´s death and life in general, but now I came up with an interesting plot, so I hope you will enjoy this story ^^ Since I´m writing two FFs now, I plan to update this story every second week (when you get lucky every week) so I can focus on updating both of them regularly.**

 **I hope you like this chapter! Have a nice day! :)**

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Chapter 2 – Feelings don´t change

Still in shock about Warren Graham kissing me and the fact that he is my boyfriend according to him, I went back to the girls´ dormitories. I was just really overwhelmed by everything that had happened this week, so I sure hoped that I wouldn´t meet anyone in the hallway since I obviously wasn´t really in the mood to talk right now. Unluckily Taylor happened to pass by when I just entered the dormitories. First the blonde girl hesitated and gave me a shy look, but then she walked towards me anyway and started a conversation.

"Hey Max.. So.. How was the funeral?", Taylor asked me while pausing a lot in her sentence, making me realize, that she didn´t really know what to say in such a situation.

I sighed:" As funerals go, I suppose. A lot of crying, emotional breakdowns, hugs and mushy talking.."

"I´m sorry. That was a dumb question.."

"No, it´s okay Taylor. Really. I know that you actually care and I would like to thank you for that.", I said, trying to lighten up the mood a little bit.

After that Victoria´s friend offered me a small smile:" That´s the least I can do after you have listened to me talking about my mother."

 _So I did talk with Taylor about her mother´s illness in this timeline as well._

"Anyway. Was Victoria present at the funeral as well? I know that she originally wanted to go..", Taylor asked with a little concern in her voice.

I nodded my head:" Yeah, I remember her being at the actual funeral but not attending the meeting at the Two Whales Diner. But shouldn´t you know this stuff?"

"You see, the whole week was pretty tough for Vic. I mean first the thing with Nathan and then Jefferson.. She hardly talked to me or Courtney after those events.. I´m kind of worried..", the blonde girl explained while looking down on the floor.

I slightly put my hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently to give the girl a little comfort.

"This week has been tough on all of us. But I´m sure that everything will turn to be normal once some time has passed."

A small smile formed on the girl´s lips:" I sure hope so."

After that we both went in different directions, me walking straight into my room. Once the door clicked shut behind me, I let out a big, frustratet sigh. This was all so wrong. I went back in time and let Chloe die because I wanted everyone to be able to be happy again. But instead everyone and everything just seemed so sad and full of concern. After another sigh had escaped my mouth, I finally walked around my room to check if everything was still the same. The Max Caulfield memorial wall still seemed in tact. All the furniture and decoration hadn´t moved from it´s original spot either. But on my couch there was a huge box placed there, with my teddy bear and journal being placed right next to it. Carefully I moved some of the stuff aside and dropped myself on the couch, taking a look of the inside of the box. Once I had realized what I had kept in there, tears formed in my eyes. In the very box next to me were all the things I had kept from Chloe. Like the old phone we had decorated together, some comic strips we had drawn when we had been still kids, photos of us of course and much more objects.

 _I must have looked trough these things, when I had found out about Chloe´s death.._

Sadness rushing once again through my heart, I grabbed the teddy bear next to me and hugged it tightly to my chest. Now heavy drops of tears found themselves on my face back again, streaming down my cheeks. The Max that had been here instead of me must have had dealt with these feelings before. But to me the fact that Chloe was indeed dead was pretty new to me, so of course I would feel shitty like this. Just the pain and the thought of never seeing my best friend ever again did hurt so much. It felt unbearable. And the fact that Chloe must have died with the emotions of anger, maybe betrayel, uncertainty of Rachel´s where abouts and probably sadness because me not showing my face to her ever again, just killed me in the inside. All the memories we made together this week. All this never mattered for Chloe because to her this had never happened.

 _So why?_

 _Why did I get these powers?_

 _Was it all for nothing?_

Once again my attention was drawn to my journal, which was sitting next to me. Curious of what exactly had happened this week, I put my cuddle bear away and started to broadly read through the pages.

 **´I can´t believe it. Why didn´t I do something to save the girl? Instead I just sat there, unable to move. I guess I was too scared at that time, so I waited until David Madsen finally showed up to arrest Nathan. Only after that I finally could move my body again.`**

 **`Now I regret it even more that I didn´t do anything! It wasn´t a random girl who had been killed by Nathan´s hands but it was Chloe Price, my best fucking friend!`**

 **`Dear Diary, I still feel numb after the events which had happened. I also had gone straight to Joyce to show her at least a little bit of comfort. Together we looked at all the photos of me and Chloe. It shouldn´t have happened like this. I should have showed my face much earlier to the Price family. Especially Chloe Price.`**

 **`I still don´t feel okay. But it is good to know that I have friends around me who always got my back. Especially Kate and Warren.`**

 **`Warren has been so protective of me lately. He just shows up when I really need him.. I wish I could stay in his arms like forever.. Escaping the cruel world.. I miss you so much Chloe..`**

After reading some more pages, I finally got to know how me and Warren ended up dating. So apperently he had spend much time with me by comforting me and eventually I had ended up kissing him. I had to giggle a little bit about this because I should have known that it has actually been me who made the first move. The boy was just to damn shy. But he happened to grow much more active around me, since he got more confident by time. But as much joy this brought to my heart, as much sadness I felt because I wasn´t actually able to experience this at first hand. Also I kind of felt like betraying Warren. I mean I somewhat wasn´t the Max he was been dating this whole time. And I shouldn´t really lie to him like that, should I? In my opinion he deserved to know.. But something else caught my attention as well. The whole week I hadn´t mentioned anything about my powers. It made actually sense because, well, I hadn´t rewound and saved Chloe. But did this mean that I had lost my powers? Curiosly I looked at my right hand. It was tempting to try it out, but I obviously decided against it, since I didn´t want to cause another storm..

After this, all of a sudden my phone started to buzz, remembering me of my little `date´with Warren. So I changed my clothes into a comfortable white T-shirt, grey jogging trousers and my usual grey jacket. I also formed my hair into a little bun. After my preparations were done, I grabbed my phone and shoved it into one of my pockets, also grabbed my camera and went straight downstairs to the boys´ dormitories. This time I didn´t meet anyone, much to my comfort honestly, because I wouldn´t want to explain myself about where the hell I was going. Finally reaching Warren´s room, a small grin formed onto my lips.

 _So also in this timeline I did write on his slate? Even the same message.._

I lightly knocked on his door. It didn´t take long for him to open it, too.

"There you are. I already prepared everything! And this time I didn´t forget to put another blanket on the bed. I surely don´t want you to freeze again. Even though I wouldn´t mind to warm you up again..", He blushed at that, scratching his head.

My cheeks turned bright red at that. Warming me up? We didn´t do that already.. Or did we?

I just nodded my head and entered the room.

"Go on ahead and sit down. I just have to get my laptop.", he said, pointing to his bed on the left side.

I did as I was told and seated myself on the bed, covering me with the mentioned blanket. A couple seconds later, Warren joined me by placing himself next to me, his laptop placed on his lap. I got really nervous by this sudden closeness between us.

"So what do you wanna watch?", he asked me, while browsing through his files.

"Anything is fine, really", I stuttered.

"Come on girl, at least give me a genre.", the brown haired boy playfully shoved me.

 _There is no way we are watching a romantic movie!_

"What about action?"

"Action it is then!"

The first half of the movie, nothing really happened. But then Warren started to fakely yawn and stretch his arms, ending with one arm being placed on my shoulder. I couldn´t help but giggle at that.

"Was it too obvious?", Warren laughed as well.

"No, not at all. It was really well thought!", I sarcastically joked.

Suddenly his laughing face turned into a much serious looking one. His eyes were so focused on me, which made me feel a little uncomfortable because I had never experienced this facial expression of him. The brown haired boy placed his right hand on my left cheek and started to lower his head.

 _Was he going to kiss me again?!_

Panic and exitement rushed through my veins, when our lips finally met. My eyelids automatically fell shut, enjoying the warmth I was expierencing right now. His lips were soft, but rougher than mine at the same time. This kiss was very short but sweet. But as soon as our lips parted, he once again united them. This time the brown haired boy played with my lips, making this situation in a little make out session. We both acted pretty clumsy, me a little more than him, but all this didn´t really matter to us since we were at the exact place, where we wanted to be: together, enjoying each other´s company. At some point though, this situation somewhat escalated a little bit, since gravity made me fall onto Warren´s bed, making me lie on my back. But this didn´t stop my boyfriend from bending over me and leaving butterfly kisses all over my neck. A loud moan escaped my lips, surprised by how good this actually felt, encouraging Warren to go even further and slowly pulling my T-shirt a little up so his hands could make contact with my bare skin. As good as this all felt, it didn´t prevent panic from rising inside of me. Yeah, we had dated for some days now, but for me it was the very first make out session I had spend with Warren and I surely wasn´t ready for anything more to happen.

"Wa.. Warren stop.. Please..", I kind of sounded scared.

Immediately after saying this, my boyfriend stopped in his tracks and sat down on the bed, looking down at me.

"I.. I´m sorry Max. I kind of lost my mind for a second. I didn´t want to scare you.", he said in between breaths.

 _He looks so damn attractive, being flustered like this._

"Don´t worry. I´m not scared. I´m just not ready.."

"Of course I wouldn´t do anything you don´t want, Max. You know this, right?", he sounded so apologetic and desperate.

"It´s okay Warren, really. In fact, I have to tell you something.."

This kind of surprised him, but I knew I had to tell him. He deserved to know. Even though this would hurt his feelings. So I told him exactly everything I have went trhough this week. Starting with getting my powers and ending with my last decision I had to make. While I told Warren all of this, his facial expression turned darker and darker.

"I know this all sounds so crazy and weird. But you do believe me, right?"

It took a while until my friend began to speak:" Of course I do believe you. Man Max, but I´m really not sure what to say to this.. I´m just so sorry you had to go through all of this.. And I can only imagine how you´ve felt when you arrived in this timeline.."

"I could´ve kept everything to myself, but I thought you deserved to know.."

"Yeah, I know. Don´t worry Max. I won´t.. I won´t confuse you anymore. If you want to go right now, then do so..", Warren said obviously hurt.

This caught me off guard:" Huh? What are you saying?"

"You must´ve been really confused of the fact that.. You know, that we´re dating. And I understand if you want to unmake this. Even though I was finally so happy to be able to call myself your boyfriend.."

I cupped his face in my hands:" Warren.. I know I might not be the Max you were dating this whole time. Well, I am the same Max but I can´t remember anything of this. But.. But my feelings towards you didn´t change. I still love you. When I had met you in the other timeline at the Diner, we even had kissed.. So if you wouldn´t mind.. We could still start this relationship from the beginning.."

"I don´t."

And with that, once again our lips met. After we did discuss about my time traveling powers a little bit more, we fell asleep, me sleeping in Warren´s arms. Even though my boyfriend couldn´t really give me an answer to why I got this power in the first place, I was finally able to sleep so good like what felt like ages ago.


End file.
